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Blood Imagery In Macbeth Essay

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Shakespeare’s playwright shows the betrayal of Macbeth. The use of blood imagery in Macbeth shows the character development of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and as they switch personalities.

Lady Macbeth as a human being is very cruel, evil, and murderous. At the beginning of the the play we learn of her use of manipulation to convince Macbeth to murder King Duncan for his crown over the kingdom. To become this way she calls upon the spirits to change her own body, “Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it” (1.5.44-51). The purpose is to a cruel and evil monstrous beast. Blood is a measure of your guilt in the eyes of Lady Macbeth. So by having thick blood that cannot flow, she assumes that there would be no guilt in her actions. Lady Macbeth as a …show more content…

Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures. 'Tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal, For it must seem their guilt” She again calls him a coward for not going back to take the daggers and frame the guards. Lady Macbeth compares the dead and sleeping to be pictures. Again mocking him by saying only children are scared of paintings. After the murder of King Duncan, “My hands are of your colour, but I shame To wear a heart so white” (2.2.80-81). By saying his heart was white Lady Macbeth says this to mock Macbeth by calling him weak and a coward. Shortly after she says “A little water clears us of this deed” (2.2.85). The deed is representing the guilt of the murder, and Lady Macbeth believes it will only take a little bit of time for the guilt to

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The image of blood plays an important role throughout the play. Blood represents the murders Macbeth and Lady Macbeth committed along with the guilt and pain they’ve felt afterwards. When Macbeth murdered King Duncan, he was fearful of getting caught. “Will Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?” (2.2.59-60) Later, Macbeth refuses to go back to the crime scene to smear the blood on the sleeping guards because he was afraid of being accused.

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Darkness can be seen in many literary works with the intention of showing a turn for the worse in many characters lives. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare displays examples of violence in order to show audience members how Macbeth’s desire for kingship, led to his demise through his guilt. The use of blood, nature and supernatural elements are used as a way of symbolizing Shakespeare's theme of Macbeth’s guilt. Is one man’s desire for nobility worth the cost of others lives? Blood alters the atmosphere throughout Macbeth through the effect it has on the main character.

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Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” explores a man’s fall from morality through committing the act of regicide, as well as ideas of guilt, greed and corruption. A motif of blood is used throughout the play to aid Shakespeare’s character development of Macbeth and it also facilitates further exploration of the figurative moral compass and culpability. Blood is used as a symbol and physical manifestation of guilt within characters throughout the play. Firstly, Shakespeare uses the motif of blood to emphasise the moral deterioration of Macbeth 's character.

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By declaring his nature to “too full of the milk of human kindness”, she is stating that he is too feeble as a man to carry out the murder, and is belittling him for not being “masculine” enough to fulfill his ambition of being King. She knows that her husband has great ambition, and believes it to be a negative thing that he tends to carry out his deeds with a sound conscience as to not affect anyone negatively in the process. In her belief, to have a conscience is to fail. With wickedness is the only possible method to carry out the deed, for that is the only state of being Lady Macbeth truly and comfortably carries within her. She resolutely asserts the importance of not straying from the purpose and seeks to counteract her husband’s shortcomings.

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Make thick my blood.” (1, 5, 47-50) Shakespeare uses this powerful soliloquy to reveal Lady Macbeth ’s innermost desires: to be freed from her menstrual cycle, frailty of womanhood, and feminized traits of pity. Ruthlessness would replace these traits, transforming her into a more masculine identity that is able to gain access to power.

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